frame disaster professional builders?

[Virgin Steele]

I am just starting to building frames, and as a newbie it is quite easy to make a fatal error that makes your frame useless. A question came to my mind: what if this happens to a professional builder ? . I know that this would be difficult, but errors happens sometimes... . I wonder what happens if you have to redo a frame when you are almost finished, the deliver to the customer delay.. etc won't be an easy situation for someone who live of it, not for a hobbist

[progetto]

Do it right or don't do it at all. Better to have a frame done properly and a little late than have to deal with the aftermath of a poorly built frame and unhappy customer. Communication is the key.

[Kumo Cycles]

If you screw up, fix it or build the customer another one

[fortyfour]

Been there done that. It's not a question of "if" you'll make a mistake, but rather "when". Mistakes happen, but that's how you learn.

One mistake that quickly comes to mind was correcting a seat tube that was off a bit to the drive side. A small tack popped on the back of the seat tube / BB junction and the seat tube tore beneath the down tube above the fully welded part of the seat tube which popped the HT/TT tack. ST, DT and TT were wasted. To stay on time I had new ST/DT's delivered the next day from CA to NH (made a new ST that day, and did all I could to bring me back to where I was the previous day). I also chose to replace the head tube too just to be on the safe side. Chalked it up to experience and made the resulting frame 10 times better.

It definitely puts a black cloud on that work day, but it's a learning experience. So don't dwell on it. Turn that frustration into some positive waves and funnel it into determination to make the next even better.

[steve garro]

Sometimes you have to dumpster one.
It happens, but far less & less.
Slow down to hurry up in most cases.
- Garro.

[jon_norstog]

I check alignment etc. as I go and usually catch mistakes-in-the-making. Sometimes one gets by. Sometimes I can fix it, other times I got to do the whole thing over. A "trash" frame can be painted up nice for a display unit or to fill out your booth at a show - I've got one of those.

jn


"Thursday"

[Eric Estlund]

Part of it is realizing that a mistake is not a disaster- it's a mistake. Bin in and redo- send out the good stuff and don't get to hung up from the bits you need to let go.

[shand]

It's been been said before but the difference between a professional and an amateur is that while both will make mistakes, the professional will know how to correct them.

[Andrew R Stewart]

It's been been said before but the difference between a professional and an amateur is that while both will make mistakes, the professional will know how to correct them.

This parallels what I was told 34 years ago by Eisentraut. "The mark of a professional is how he hides his mistakes." Andy.

[e-RICHIE]

This parallels what I was told 34 years ago by Eisentraut. "The mark of a professional is how he hides his mistakes." Andy.

Heh! What does that quote mean to you? Any mistake I make is corrected or dumpster-ed atmo.
Heck, if I was aware of a mistake I made on a client's frame, I wouldn't even sell it as a discount.
I am sure 'Traut was waxing poetically, not literally with those words.

[edoz]

Heh! What does that quote mean to you? Any mistake I make is corrected or dumpster-ed atmo.
Heck, if I was aware of a mistake I made on a client's frame, I wouldn't even sell it as a discount.
I am sure 'Traut was waxing poetically, not literally with those words.

Maybe he was speaking literally, because he hid his mistakes in the dumpster;)

[Shinomaster]

This parallels what I was told 34 years ago by Eisentraut. "The mark of a professional is how he hides his mistakes." Andy.

That works when decorating cakes.

[Andrew R Stewart]

I took the Eisentraut statement to mean that we all make mistakes and how we deal with them matters. The pro just deals with them in a way that his client won't find out. Whether this is to scrap, correct or cover up. Andy.

[Virgin Steele]

that is agood example of what i was thinking in. For sure as other has noticed you arent going to deliver a bad frame, but been a handcrafter in a low number of production environment ( compare to mass production) i guess redoing a frame in time makes you to in a hurry up situation.
Also makes me thing of how to deal with those "bad" days at work when everything seems to go in wrong direction ( it is not like in a office environment where you got the "undo" button on your pc). For me it is a sort of recognition for those who have to deal with it in their daily work.
thanks everybody for sharing

[Clockwork]

Last year I found a tube defect in the TT near the seattube when the frame was almost complete. I explained this to the customer and offered to cut the defect out and add S&S couplers at a discount. He loved the idea and everybody was happy.

-Joel